


Here With Me

by momotastic



Series: Hiatus Verse [3]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst and Humor, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 21:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momotastic/pseuds/momotastic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was all Eliot’s fault really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here With Me

Alec had been apartment hunting. Again. He really hadn’t done anything else in the last three days. 

It was all Eliot’s fault really. He had mentioned that his apartment was too small for both of them, and now Alec was searching for another place. Something bigger. He had looked at a few places, even considered some and then thrown away the application forms again.

Nothing was good enough. Either the living room had too few windows or the kitchen was too small. How could they get an apartment with a small kitchen if Eliot was such a damn fine cook? No way was that going to happen.

Just when Alec had been about to give up for today, he had glimpsed a promising offer.

_Two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, bathroom, hallway. 910 sq. ft., $1,070-2,000, deposit $250._

The pictures were looking great, and Alec had been lucky enough to be able to get an appointment to see the apartment in less than hour.

When he had been standing in the middle of the living room he had started grinning like crazy. 

“It’s perfect,” he said, more to himself than the realtor who joined in on the praising anyway. Alec got it - she wanted him to take the place.

“I know, isn’t it just? It’s very bright and the kitchen is a dream for anyone who likes to cook.”

“It is. Alright, how much is it gonna cost and when can we move in?”

From there on it had been very simple. Alec put down one of his fake identities and given her a false bank account from where he would send the money as soon as possible. 

Now he was back at Eliot’s old place and nervously waiting for his return. For what felt like the millionth time Alec glanced at his watch. 10:32pm. 

Right in that moment he heard Eliot unlocking the door. Alec had to force himself not to run into the hallway and tell the good news. No, that would ruin his plan. Instead he stayed on the couch and tried to look as innocent as possible.

“Hey Hardison.”

“Hey man. How’s the diner?”

“Same crappy place as yesterday.”

“Huh. You want a beer?”

Alec had stood up, ready to head into the kitchen, but Eliot’s response stopped him.

“No, actually I just want to go to bed.”

“You can’t.”

“Why? Did you steal my bedroom?”

Eliot smiled weakly, but his voice revealed that it was something he thought Alec capable of.

“Actually I got you a new one.”

“You did what?”

“Remember when you said that this place is too small for the two of us? You were right.“

Eliot didn’t react the way Alec had imagined him to. Alec had expected Eliot to be surprised or maybe confused but … angry?

“So you’re throwing me out of _my_ apartment? You sell me out to the cops, Hardison? Huh? Is that it? I can’t believe I trusted you! I can’t believe I let you stay at my place! I should’ve _known_ I couldn’t trust anybody and especially not another _thief_. I bet that’s why you couldn’t stay with Parker! You betrayed her, too, didn’t you?”

Alec hadn’t seen Eliot this angry before. It scared the shit out of him.

“What? No, Eliot, no! I didn’t do anything like that.”

“Why would I believe you?” 

Eliot had come closer and was now only inches away from Alec. 

“Because I didn’t tell the cops shit.”

The fear was probably evident in his eyes because now Eliot was smirking at him and _damn_ if that look didn’t suit him. Alec would have liked to pursue that thought -especially since, even though it wasn’t new, it still surprised him a little that he was attracted to Eliot - but Eliot grabbed the front of Alec’s t-shirt and shoved him against the nearest wall.

“If you didn’t call the cops on me then why would I get a new bedroom? Why would I have to leave my own damn apartment?”

Eliot’s voice was low and dangerous. _That_ part of Eliot Alec knew. It was how he talked to the bad guys before they were in for a nasty beating. That voice was one of the first things that had attracted Alec. He swallowed, unable to answer. Eliot pushed a little harder and Alec found his voice again – only that it didn’t sound like him at all. Too rough, and too silent.

“Because I found a new apartment. For both of us. In East Valley. Nice neighborhood.“

This time Eliot looked surprised. Didn’t loose his grip on Alec’s shirt though.

“Uhm, Eliot, you mind letting go of me?” Alec asked carefully, and Eliot’s look changed to confusion before he realized that he still had Alec pinned to the wall.

“Uh, sure. Sorry.”

“I can’t believe you actually thought I would sell you out to the police. What the hell man?”

“Sorry. It was the first thing that came to my mind when you said you got a new bedroom for me. I hadn’t expected you to find a new place for you and me. Or, at all.”

“But you said yourself that the apartment was too small for the two of us.” 

It was Alec’s turn to be surprised now. He had thought that Eliot _wanted_ to move out of this place. 

“What I meant was that it was time that you looked for your own place instead of staying on my couch. Or maybe leaving altogether.” 

Eliot’s voice had taken on a strange sound while he said that, and Alec would be hurt and disappointed by Eliot’s words if it wasn’t for that tone, that underlying … sadness? Uncertainty? And who would’ve thought that Eliot Spencer was the kinda guy who could feel uncertain?

“You want me to go away?” 

Alec’s voice was shaking. Of course he was scared that Eliot didn’t want him around. That would be even worse than knowing for sure that Eliot wasn’t interested in Alec like that.

Eliot let out a breath. “I wanted some space.” He didn’t look at Alec while saying it and took a few steps back. Maybe to make underline his words?

“Why?” Alec asked. “We’ve been working together for over a year and you never felt the need to push one of us away like that.”

“I haven’t been living with any of you. Working together is different from living together and in our case it might even become working _and_ living together. Look, Hardison, this isn’t something I normally do. It’s not something I’m good at. I beat up people, I cook, I steal and I con. Those are things I _can_ do. Relationships of any kind aren’t my specialty. I couldn’t even stay with the woman I loved for more than a few months before I felt like I had to go and do something.”

“Liberating Croatia? Yeah, good job you did there.”

A smile tucked at Eliot’s mouth, and Alec smiled in return, trying to act as if everything was okay – or would be.

“Okay man, I get it. You want your apartment to yourself. It’s no big deal. I misunderstood. I’ll move to East Valley and come by every now and then or visit you at the diner or something.”

He congratulated himself for sounding so calm and reasonable while he was not. If he was honest – and if with no one else at least he wouldn’t lie to himself – he was unhappy to find out that Eliot most obviously wasn’t interested in him any other way than professionally (or maybe even platonically), but at least he wouldn’t make this harder on either of them. 

Eliot didn’t have to know about Alec’s feelings, and Alec would get over this. Maybe now with the soon-to-be-there space between them it would be easier.

“Thing is though,” Eliot interrupted Alec’s stream of thoughts, “that I didn’t actually want you to not be around anymore.”

Since he had no idea how to respond properly to that, Alec settled for not saying anything but raising his eyebrows in question at Eliot - who was looking at him for the first time in minutes.

“Hardison, I like having you around. It just … confuses me that I do and I was dealing with it the only way I thought fit.”

Alec’s brows almost hit his hairline now. Was Eliot really saying what Alec thought he was saying?

“So, uhm … that apartment you found? Does it have a kitchen or only a microwave?”

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Dido.


End file.
